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Medical Author:

Siamak T. Nabili, MD, MPH

Siamak T. Nabili, MD, MPH

Dr. Nabili received his undergraduate degree from the University of California, San Diego (UCSD), majoring in chemistry and biochemistry. He then completed his graduate degree at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). His graduate training included a specialized fellowship in public health where his research focused on environmental health and health-care delivery and management.

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Medical Editor:

Jay W. Marks, MD

Jay W. Marks, MD

Jay W. Marks, MD, is a board-certified internist and gastroenterologist. He graduated from Yale University School of Medicine and trained in internal medicine and gastroenterology at UCLA/Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.

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The symptoms associated with changes in the color of stool generally correspond to the underlying cause (although the presence of large amounts of blood alone may lead to diarrhea and possibly cramping). In many instances, there may not be any symptoms associated with changes in the color of stool.

Bleeding from the gastrointestinal tract (esophagus, stomach, small intestine, large intestine) leading to red, maroon, or black tarry stools may at times be without any symptoms at all. Other times, these changes may have accompanying symptoms of:

1. abdominal pain due to the underlying cause of the bleeding, for example, an ulcer;
   
   
2. nausea, vomiting of blood, diarrhea, and cramping due to the presence of blood in the stomach and/or intestines; and
   
   
3. weakness, lightheadedness, and dizziness, due to the loss of blood from the body.

Persistently gray or clay-colored stools suggest some type of obstruction to the flow of bile. Obstruction caused by gallstones usually is associated with pain on the right side of the abdomen. However, cancer of the bile duct or cancer of the head of pancreas, which also can cause obstruction to the flow of bile by pressing on the bile duct, may not be associated with abdominal pain unless the tumor is large. The obstruction to the flow of bile causes backup of bile into the blood resulting in yellowness of skin and eyes that is referred to as jaundice.

Yellow stool as a result of undigested fat also may occur with no symptoms. If present, the most common symptom associated with yellow stool will be abdominal pain as a result of chronic pancreatitis, tumor of the pancreas, or obstruction of the pancreatic duct. Undigested fat can also produce flatulence (gas) and loose, foul smelling stools.

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